Road Trip To Rutland

Two years ago, I entered some photographs in the Vermont State Fair. My photos had some success there – my shot of the lighthouse at Peggy’s Cove, N.S. picked up a third-place ribbon in the “lighthouses” category.

For some reason, however, I didn’t enter my photos into that competition in 2011. Maybe I was just concentrating on other projects, I don’t know. What I do know, however, is that I have six entries for the Vermont State Fair’s photography competition… and I’m road-tripping them to Rutland this morning.

The Vermont State Fair has several different themed categories, so the pictures I selected are actually specific to each category. And you can only enter one B&W and one color per category theme.

So what am I bringing into the Green Mountain State?

Well, some of these pictures you’ll recognize right off the bat. Others have never previously entered competition. Here we go.

Butterfly and Citrus. Photo by Chuck Miller.

I’m starting off with Butterfly and Citrus. You might remember this picture of the morph butterfly that is happily slurping down on some fruit. The Vermont State Fair has a “butterfly” subdivision, so that’s where this entry is headed.

I haven’t had much success with butterfly pictures; the last time I entered one in competition, it was of a Kodachrome butterfly photo in 2010 that went to the Vermont State Fair. And this current entry was submitted as a possible choice for the New York State Fair.

The fancy matte was one of several I created by using rolls of custom paper from Arlene’s Artist Materials on Fuller Road. I wrapped the custom paper around a generic matte board to create a pattern that was as festive as the butterfly wings.

Poestenkill Casacade. Photo by Chuck Miller.

The next entry is Poestenkill Cascade. This image was the only one out of six to make it to the wall of the New York State Fair’s photo competition. I had McGreevy Pro Lab print the picture in a metallic finish, and I used another one of Arlene’s custom papers to add a festive matte to the project.

Two years ago, the Vermont State Fair did not have requirements for matting, and there was some flexibility for sizes. Not this year. Everything has to be matted, and everything has to be no larger than 11″x14″ in size, including matte.

So the hope is that the matte and the picture for the images actually work well together. That’s the most important thing. That, and if the judges like what they see.

Angela and the Ducks. Photo by Chuck Miller.

This is my third image, it’s called Angela and the Ducks. It’s from a photo shoot I took last December with one of my photo models, Angela.

Besides being good friends, we have a photography arrangement called TFP – “Time For Prints” – in that she’ll be a willing photo model, and in exchange she gets prints for her portfolio. This is a very good working arrangement between a photographer and a model. I help her out, she helps me out.

This picture was taken in Washington Park, and I think it turned out well. Plus, this is the second photo I’ve entered this year that features a human subject in the photo; I previously entered Her Stolen Heart, featuring my other photo-model friend Lauren, in the New York State Fair.

Ciufo Demolition Derby Car. Photo by Chuck Miller.

This fourth entry, Ciufo Demolition Derby Car, was taken at the Vermont State Fair in 2010.

This picture was taken with discontinued Agfa Scala B&W slide film, and was shot with my Kiev MIR fisheye lens. The matte was custom-cut by A.C. Moore, since the photo image is narrower than a standard off-the-shelf matte.

So why am I entering a picture of a demolition derby car in this competition? And a Dodge car, to boot?

Well, the main reason is that the photo was taken at the Vermont State Fair, and one of the Fair’s photo subcategories involves images that WERE taken at the Fair. So let’s see if we get lucky with this one.

Mail Pouch Tobacco Barn. Photo by Chuck Miller.

Picture number five is called Mail Pouch Tobacco Barn. I took this picture about two years ago in the Hudson Valley, and it was part of my “Ghost Signs” search of vintage brick-ad and fading advertisements on old buildings. I’ve blogged about this picture in the past, but realistically I’ve never thought of entering the photo into competition.

But guess what. The Vermont State Fair has a category for barn photographs. So, naturally, here’s a chance for this photo to pick up some silk.

Oh, and by the way – the photo was printed in a “deep matte” format by Ritz Camera, just before Ritz shut their doors forever.

And finally, my sixth entry for the Vermont State Fair.

Midnight at the Palace Theater. Photo by Chuck Miller.

Yep… it’s Midnight at the Palace Theater. The artwork that took home three ribbons last year. A photo that was not previously entered in the Vermont State Fair – simply because I didn’t enter the competition last year.

This time I used a rounded matte for the Palace, making the image look like a frame from a movie reel. Luckily I found this matte on the shelf at A.C. Moore, or else I would have just gone with a standard matte for this project.

So here’s the deal. The Vermont State Fair requires its entries to be delivered on one specific day – today, August 30.

And here I am, sitting around blogging about it when I should be in my car, driving up to Rutland and delivering these pieces.

2 Responses

Best of luck, Chuck – I really like “Cascade” and “Palace Theater” in particular. I’m guessing that you’ll come away with at least a couple ribbons, maybe more!

Just some food for thought regarding competitions – I’m of the opinion that the image should stand for itself, so I never enter photos with anything but white or black mats (~90% of the time I use black with black core). In chatting with photo superintendants over the years, I know that some judges feel the same – one very competitive contest I enter even explicitly states in the rules “Mats are optional. We judge your photo, NOT the mat”. I personally would particularly avoid patterned or textured mats that could detract from the focus on the image itself.

Not saying any of this to criticize, but just some input that I hope might help you have even more success. I think that “Palace” looks good there, but with a jet black mat and more of a landscape crop, it’s a showstopper, IMO.

Good luck!
Bob

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Chuck Miller: Writer, Photographer, and the life lessons I learned from Street Academy